Apple retail stores bound for Brazil, Mexico City

During a press conference Thursday at the Mac maker's new flagship retail store on 14th Street in Manhattan, senior vice president of retail operations Ron Johnson told an Engadget reporter that there will be a large number of international stores among the 40 or so that company plans to open in fiscal 2008.

Johnson's remarks arrive on the heels of an interview with mall developer Carlos Jereissati Filho, who earlier this week said two Apple-built shops will open in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the first opening this month at the Shopping Iguatemi mall. The second store will open in 2008 in the Shopping Marketplace mall.

In addition, sources report that Apple is now negotiating with Reichmann International for space in the Torre Mayor office complex in Mexico City. It’s the tallest building in the city and include 33,300 square-feet of ground floor retail space, where Apple may eventually locate.

Lastly, there are three new stores planned for the UK, at the huge Westfield London mall opening in late 2008 northwest of that city, in the Covent Garden district of London, and another in an unverified northern city. 

Gary Allen is the creator and author of ifo Apple Store, which provides close watch of Apple's retail initiative. When Gary isn't busy publishing news and information on Apple's latest retail stores, he finds himself hanging out at one.